0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 16 – The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany – Chpt 19 – A Memorable Coincidence and Historical Facts

                Chapter XIX 

                                  [The Christian Science Journal]
  	   A MEMORABLE COINCIDENCE AND HISTORICAL
                                            FACTS

1	    We are glad to publish the following interesting
  	letter and enclosures received from our Leader. 
 3	That legislatures and courts are thus declaring the liberties
  	of Christian Scientists is most gratifying to our people; not
  	because a favor has been extended, but because their
 6	inherent rights are recognized in an official and authori-
  	tative manner. It is especially gratifying to them that
  	the declaration of this recognition should be coincident
 9	in the Southern and Northern States in which Mrs. Eddy
  	has made  her home. 


  	                                MRS. EDDY'S LETTER 

12	    Dear Editor: — I send for publication in our periodicals
  	the following deeply interesting letter from Elizabeth Earl
  	Jones of Asheville, N. C., — the State where my husband,
15	Major George W. Glover, passed on and up, the State
  	that so signally honored his memory, where with wet eyes
  	the Free Masons laid on his bier the emblems of a master
18	Mason, and in long procession with tender dirge bore his
  	remains to their last resting-place. Deeply grateful, I
  	recognize the divine hand in turning the hearts of the noble
 
                                                    Historical Facts                               327


1	Southrons of North Carolina legally to protect the practice
  	of Christian Science in that State. 
 3	    Is it not a memorable coincidence that, in the Court of
  	New Hampshire, my native State, and in the Legislature
  	of North Carolina, they have the same year, in 1903, made
 6	it legal to practise Christian Science in these States? 
  	                                        
                                                         MARY BAKER EDDY
  	
       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
 9	                 October 16, 1903 


  	            MISS  ELIZABETH  EARL  JONES'  LETTER 

  	    Beloved Leader: — I know the enclosed article will make
12	your heart glad, as it has made glad the hearts of all the
  	Christian Scientists in North Carolina. This is the result
  	of the work done at last winter's term of our Legislature,
15	when a medical bill was proposed calculated to limit or
  	stop the practice of Christian Science in our State. An
  	amendment was obtained by Miss Mary Hatch Harrison
18	and a few other Scientists who stayed on the field until the
  	last. After the amendment had been passed, an old law,
  	or rather a section of an act in the Legislature regulating
21	taxes, was changed as follows, because the representa-
  	tive men of our dear State did not wish to be "discour-
  	teous to the Christian Scientists." The section formerly
24	read, "pretended healers," but was changed to read as
  	follows: "All other professionals who practise the art of
  	healing," etc. 
27	    We thank our heavenly Father for this dignified
  	legal protection and recognition, and look forward to
  	the day, not far distant, when the laws of every State
30	will dignify the ministry of Christ as taught and prac-
  	tised in Christian Science, and as lived by our dear,
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              328


 1	dear Leader, even as God has dignified, blessed, and
  	prospered it, and her. 

 3	                                   With devoted love,

  	                                         ELIZABETH EARL JONES
 
  	105 BAILEY ST., ASHEVILLE, N. C.,
 6	              October 11, 1903 


  	    The following article, copied from the Raleigh (N. C.)
  	News and Observer, is the one referred to in Miss Jones'
 9	letter: —  

  	    The Christian Science people, greatly pleased at the
  	law affecting them passed by the last Legislature, are
12	apt also to be pleased with the fact that the law recog-
  	nizes them as healers, and that it gives them a license
  	to heal. This license of five dollars annually, required
15	of physicians, has been required of them, and how this
  	came about in Kinston is told in the Kinston Free Press
  	as follows: —  

18	    Sheriff Wooten issued licenses yesterday to two
  	Christian Science healers in this city. This is probably
  	the first to be issued to the healers of this sect in the
21	State. 
  	    Upon the request of a prominent healer of the church,
  	the section of the machinery act of the Legislature cover-
24	ing it was shown, whereupon application for license was
  	made and obtained. 
  	    The section, after enumerating the different professions
27	for which a license must be obtained to carry them on in
  	this State, further says, "and all other professionals who
  	practise the art of healing for pay, shall pay a license fee
30	of five dollars." 
  
                                                    Historical Facts                               329


 1	    This was construed to include the healers of the Chris-
  	tian Science church, and license was accordingly taken
 3	out. 
  	    The idea prevails that the last General Assembly of
  	North Carolina relieved the healers of this sect from paying
 6	this fee, but this is not so. The board only excused them
  	from a medical examination before a board of medical
  	examiners. 

 9	    Mrs. Eddy's reference to the death of her husband,
  	Major George W. Glover, gives especial interest to the
  	following letter from Newbern, N. C., which appeared
12	in the Wilmington (N. C.) Dispatch, October 24, 1903. 
  	Mrs. Eddy has in her possession photographed copies of
  	the notice of her husband's death and of her brother's
15	letter, taken from the Wilmington (N. C.) Chronicle as
  	they appear in that paper in the issues of July 3 and
  	August 21, 1844, respectively. The photographs are ver-
18	ified by the certificate of a notary public and were pre-
  	sented to Mrs. Eddy by Miss Harrison. 


  	       MISS  MARY  HATCH  HARRISON'S  LETTER 

21	    To the Editor: — At no better time than now, when the
  	whole country is recognizing the steady progress of Chris-
  	tian Science and admitting its interest in the movement,
24	as shown by the fair attitude of the press everywhere,
  	could we ask you to give your readers the following com-
  	munication. It will put before them some interesting
27	facts concerning Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, and some in-
  	cidents of her life in North and South Carolina which
  	might not have been known but for a criticism of this
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              330


 1	good woman which was published in your paper in
  	August, 1901. 
 3	    I presume we should not be surprised that a noteworthy
  	follower of our Lord should be maligned, since the great
  	Master himself was scandalized, and he prophesied that
 6	his followers would be so treated. The calumniator who
  	informed you in this instance locates Mrs. Eddy in Wil-
  	mington in 1843, thus contradicting his own statement,
 9	since Mrs. Eddy was not then a resident of Wilmington. 
  	A local Christian Scientist of your city, whose womanhood
  	and Christianity are appreciated by all, assisted by a
12	Mason of good standing there and a Christian Scientist of
  	Charleston, S. C., carefully investigated the points con-
  	cerning Major Glover's history which are questioned by
15	this critic, and has found Mrs. Eddy's statements, rela-
  	ting to her husband (who she states was of Charleston,
  	S. C., not of Wilmington, but who died there while on
18	business in 1844, not in 1843, as claimed in your issue) are
  	sustained by Masonic records in each place as well as
  	by Wilmington newspapers of that year. In "Retro-
21	spection and Introspection" (p. 19) Mrs. Eddy says of
  	this circumstance: —  
  	    "My husband was a Free Mason, being a member in St.
24	Andrew's Lodge, No. 10, and of Union Chapter, No. 3, of
  	Royal Arch Masons.  He was highly esteemed and sin-
  	cerely lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaint-
27	ances, whose kindness and sympathy helped to support me
  	in this terrible bereavement.  A month later I returned to
  	New Hampshire, where, at the end of four months, my
30	babe was born.  Colonel Glover's tender devotion to his
  	young bride was remarked by all observers.  With his
  	parting breath he gave pathetic directions to his brother
 
                                                    Historical Facts                               331


 1	Masons about accompanying her on her sad journey to
  	the North.  Here it is but justice to record, they per-
 3	formed their obligations most faithfully." 
  	    Such watchful solicitude as Mrs. Eddy received at the
  	hands of Wilmington's best citizens, among whom she
 6	remembers the Rev. Mr. Reperton, a Baptist clergyman,
  	and the Governor of the State, who accompanied her to
  	the train on her departure, indicates her irreproachable
 9	standing in your city at that time. 
  	    The following letter of thanks, copied from the Wil-
  	mington Chronicle of August 21, 1844, testifies to the love
12	and respect entertained for Mrs. Eddy by Wilmington's
  	best men, whose Southern chivalry would have scorned
  	to extend such unrestrained hospitality to an unworthy
15	woman as quickly as it would have punished the assail-
  	ant of a good woman: —  


  	                                            A CARD 

18	    Through the columns of your paper, will you permit
  	me, in behalf of the relatives and friends of the late
  	Major George W. Glover of Wilmington and his be-
21	reaved lady, to return our thanks and express the feeling
  	of gratitude we owe and cherish towards those friends of
  	the deceased who so kindly attended him during his last
24	sickness, and who still extended their care and sympathy
  	to the lone, feeble, and bereaved widow after his decease. 
  	Much has often been said of the high feeling of honor
27	and the noble generosity of heart which characterized the
  	people of the South, yet when we listen to Mrs. Glover
  	(my sister) whilst recounting the kind attention paid to
30	the deceased during his late illness, the sympathy ex-
  	tended to her after his death, and the assistance volun-
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              332


 1	teered to restore her to her friends at a distance of more
  	than a thousand miles, the power of language would be
 3	but beggared by an attempt at expressing the feelings of
  	a swelling bosom. The silent gush of grateful tears alone
  	can tell the emotions of the thankful heart, — words are
 6	indeed but a meagre tribute for so noble an effort in be-
  	half of the unfortunate, yet it is all we can award:  will our
  	friends at Wilmington accept it as a tribute of grateful
 9	hearts? Many thanks are due Mr. Cooke, who engaged
  	to accompany her only to New York, but did not desert
  	her or remit his kind attention until he saw her in the
12	fond embrace of her friends.
 
  	                           Your friend and obedient servant,

  	                                      (Signed) GEORGE S. BAKER 

15	SANBORNTON BRIDGE, N. H.,
  	             August 12, 1844 


  	    The paper containing this card is now in the Young
18	Men's Christian Association at Wilmington. 
  	    The facts regarding Major Glover's membership in
  	St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 10, were brought to light in a
21	most interesting way. A Christian Scientist in Charles-
  	ton was requested to look up the records of this lodge,
  	as we had full confidence that it would corroborate Mrs.
24	Eddy's claims. After frequent searchings and much in-
  	terviewing with Masonic authorities, it was learned that
  	the lodge was no longer in existence, and that during the
27	Civil War many Masonic records were transferred to
  	Columbia, where they were burned; but on repeated
  	search a roll of papers recording the death of George
30	Washington Glover in 1844 and giving best praises to
  	his honorable record and Christian character was found;
  
                                                    Historical Facts                               333


1	and said record, with the seal of the Grand Secretary,
  	is now in the possession of the chairman of the Christian
 3	Science publication committee. 
  	    In the records of St. John's Lodge, Wilmington, as
  	found by one of your own citizens, a Mason, it is shown
 6	that on the twenty-eighth day of June, 1844, a special
  	meeting was convened for the purpose of paying the last
  	tribute of respect to Brother George W. Glover, who
 9	died on the night of the twenty-seventh. The minutes
  	record this further proceeding: —  
  	    "A procession was formed, which moved to the resi-
12	dence of the deceased, and from thence to the Episcopal
  	burying-ground, where the body was interred with the
  	usual ceremonies.  The procession then returned to the
15	lodge, which was closed in due form." 
  	    It has never been claimed by Mrs. Eddy nor by any
  	Christian Scientists that Major Glover's remains were
18	carried North. 
  	    The Wilmington Chronicle of July 3, 1844, records that
  	this good man, then known as Major George W. Glover,
21	died on Thursday night, the twenty-seventh of June. The
  	Chronicle states: "His end was calm and peaceful, and to
  	those friends who attended him during his illness he gave
24	the repeated assurance of his willingness to die, and of his
  	full reliance for salvation on the merits of a crucified Re-
  	deemer.  His remains were interred with Masonic honors.  
27	He has left an amiable wife, to whom he had been united
  	but the brief space of six months, to lament this
  	irreparable loss." 
30	    From the Chronicle, dated September 25, 1844, we copy
  	the following: "We are assured that reports of unusual
  	sickness in Wilmington are in circulation." This periodi-
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              334


 1	cal then forthwith strives to give the impression that the
  	rumor is not true. It is reasonable to infer from news-
 3	paper reports of that date that some insidious disease
  	was raging at that time. 
  	    The allegation that copies of Mrs. Eddy's book, "Retro-
 6	spection and Introspection," are few, and that efforts are
  	being made to buy them up because she has contradicted
  	herself, is without foundation. They are advertised in
 9	every weekly issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, and
  	still contain the original account of her husband's demise
  	at Wilmington. 
12	    May it not be, since this critic places certain circum-
  	stances in 1843, which records show really existed in 1844,
  	that the woman whom he had in mind is some other one? 
15	    We can state Mrs. Eddy's teaching on the unreality of
  	evil in no better terms than to quote her own words. 
  	Nothing could be further from her meaning than that evil
18	could be indulged in while being called unreal. She
  	declares in her Message to The Mother Church [1901]:
  	"To assume there is no reality in sin, and yet commit
21	sin, is sin itself, that clings fast to iniquity.  The Pub-
  	lican's wail won his humble desire, while the Pharisee's
  	self-righteousness crucified Jesus." 
24	                                    MARY HATCH HARRISON 


  	        MAJOR GLOVER'S RECORD AS A MASON 

  	    Of further interest in this matter is the following ex-
27	tract from an editorial obituary which appeared in 1845 in
  	the Freemason's Monthly Magazine, published by the
  	late Charles W. Moore, Grand Secretary of the Grand
30	Lodge of Massachusetts: —  
 
                                                    Historical Facts                               335


 1	    Died at Wilmington, N. C., on the 27th June last,
  	Major George W. Glover, formerly of Concord, N. H. 
 3	    Brother Glover resided in Charleston, S. C., and was
  	made a Mason in "St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 10." He was
  	soon exalted to the degree of a Royal Arch Mason in
 6	"Union Chapter, No. 3," and retained his membership
  	in both till his decease. He was devotedly attached
  	to Masonry, faithful as a member and officer of the
 9	Lodge and Chapter, and beloved by his brothers and
  	companions, who mourn his early death. 

  	    Additional facts regarding Major Glover, his illness and
12	death, are that he was for a number of years a resident of
  	Charleston, S. C., where he erected a fine dwelling-house,
  	the drawings and specifications of which were kept by his
15	widow for many years after his death. While at Wilming-
  	ton, N. C., in June, 1844, Mr. Glover was attacked with
  	yellow fever of the worst type, and at the end of nine days
18	he passed away. This was the second case of the dread
  	disease in that city, and in the hope of allaying the excite-
  	ment which was fast arising, the authorities gave the cause
21	of death as bilious fever, but they refused permission to
  	take the remains to Charleston. 
  	    On the third day of her husband's illness, Mrs. Glover
24	(now Mrs. Eddy) sent for the distinguished physician who
  	attended cases of this terrible disease as an expert (Dr.
  	McRee we think it was), and was told by him that he could
27	not conceal the fact that the case was one of yellow fever
  	in its worst form, and nothing could save the life of
  	her husband. In these nine days and nights of agony
30	the young wife prayed incessantly for her husband's
  	recovery, and was told by the expert physician that
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              336


 1	but for her prayers the patient would have died on
  	the seventh day. 
 3	    The disease spread so rapidly that Mrs. Glover (Mrs.
  	Eddy) was afraid to have her brother, George S. Baker,
  	come to her after her husband's death, to take her back to
 6	the North. Although he desired to go to her assistance,
  	she declined on this ground, and entrusted herself to the
  	care of her husband's Masonic brethren, who faithfully
 9	performed their obligation to her. She makes grateful
  	acknowledgment of this in her book, "Retrospection and
  	Introspection." In this book (p. 20) she also states,
12	"After returning to the paternal roof I lost all my hus-
  	band's property, except what money I had brought
  	with me; and remained with my parents until after
15	my mother's decease." Mr. Glover had made no will
  	previous to his last illness, and then the seizure of dis-
  	ease was so sudden and so violent that he was unable
18	to make a will. 
  	    These letters and extracts are of absorbing interest to
  	Christian Scientists as amplification of the facts given by
21	Mrs. Eddy in "Retrospection and Introspection."SHOW ALL